*A few hours after the events of the previous chapter*

*11/12/79*

“Such a frail thing you are. “Just a twist of your neck would end you,” thought The Overlord as it looked down at the female Sprite in its arms. Isabelle nuzzled closer into the Overlord's chest, unaware of what was happening.

Normally, The Overlord stayed within the confines of its home island, deserted and avoided by Spirit’s. It felt compelled to travel to Britannia. Stealth was vital for completing its goal. Tracking down the Silver Spine's home and eliminating any potential threat there.

The Silver Spine Great Wolf had been the latest in a list of powerful adversaries The Overlord had fought and defeated over its long life. She had been strong and swift, but in the end, she died after hours of fighting. Her frail body could not compare with the unending stamina of The Overlord.

But still, she left her mark on The Overlord. The scar across its eye was the first it had received. And with that scar came an epiphany.

The Overlord was old, very old. It was the creator and Overlord of all Shadow Creatures. Born from a shard of a shattered moon fallen from another realm, it was the first to walk on this planet. The Overlord despised the Spirits when it first laid eyes on them and quickly set about killing any it came upon. At first, it fought them unaided, but after decades of fighting, it discovered something.

Using negative emotions, it created the first breed of Shadow Creatures. They needed no food, water, or rest to perform their purpose. They were strong, fast, and driven by an insatiable desire to destroy anything related to the Spirits and, later, the Great Wolves.

The Overlord's vicious creations wiped out entire nests of Spirits and Great Wolves alike. Their extinction was inevitable.

Then the Spirits found a way to make Crystals…

With the Crystals in their possession, the Spirits began to push the Shadows back, reclaiming land lost and avenging their fallen dead. Even the Great Wolves began making gains when they discovered their natural powers. The Spirits celebrated their victory and constructed tools, nests, weapons, and all with the power of Crystals.

But their victory came at an unknown cost. The amount of rage and anger expressed through their retaliation provided the Overlord with a vast amount of negativity. This gave it the means to construct more and more Shadows, which quickly spread across the world.

That had been thousands of years ago. Since then, the once many and mighty Spirit nests had been reduced to only six secure locations scattered throughout the corners of the world. Then, they turned their weapons on each other multiple times. They were stable now, though, and while they no longer sent large armies to fight, they still had many of their accursed Hunters.

But the Overlord had not sat idly either as its enemies bickered amongst themselves. It kept creating new Shadows and learning more about its enemies. Keeping hidden and dispatching any Spirits or Great Wolves unlucky or foolish enough to stumble upon it.

But the fight with the Silver Spine Great Wolf left a question in the Overlord's mind. What would happen if it were to die?

It was not affected by the sands of time as the Spirits and Great Wolves were, but its body was not immune to their weapons of war or claws. It could be killed. The scar on its eye was proof of that.

At first, it decided to prevent its death by killing any Spirit or Great Wolf with great potential, especially the young ones. But this proved challenging and futile, as they needed to be guarded by the adults.

It was this reasoning that brought it to Britannia. It had followed the scent of the Silver Spine Great Wolf back to that island, hoping to find others like her and kill them. But it found something much more important. When the young Pup had appeared out of the wheat field, the local Hounds were ready to pounce on her, but the Overlord stayed their claws.

It had felt something it could not immediately recognize. But when it approached the terrified Pup, the Overlord discovered it was not the chestnut-maned Pup from which the feeling came but from the red-cloaked Sprite asleep in a wagon. One look was all the Overlord needed to discern that this sleeping Sprite was the progeny of Silver Spine. Even if the Spirit was not directly related to the Great Wolf.

Its first instinct was to kill her, tear her body to pieces, and feed them to the Hounds before crushing the Pup beneath its foot. However, it stayed its hand when it finally realized what the feeling emanated from the Spirit was.

Purity.

The Sprite had a soul without any blemish or dark intent. So unspoiled was the Sprite that the Overlord could at first only stare in awe before looking at the Pup when it sensed the dread and fear rolling off her. It was then that it hatched an idea. An idea that may provide the solution to its question.

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The Overlord took the child from its resting place and carried it away. Once on the shore, it called for a Great Raven and mounted the mighty Shadow.

It reached its island in under an hour. All the while, the Sprite remained asleep in the Overlord's clutches. Once it had landed, the Great Raven waited for its master to dismount before taking off into the sky.

The Sprite's pure soul gave the Overlord an opportunity that would only come once. For it was beyond natural for Spirits to possess such clean, untainted souls. And though it viewed it as an abnormality that should not exist, the Overlord knew that these types of souls came at a price. For it was pure souls like hers that were the easiest to corrupt.

The Overlord had seen it happen countless times. Innocent Sprites and Pups, carefree and ignorant of the cruel world, become brutal killers without compassion for their enemies. Like snow freshly fallen, they were easily fouled and dirtied by life's many hardships and cruel truths.

The Overlord had brought forth the first Shadow Creature from its blood and the Spirit's despair and hatred. This was done by creating a spawning pool for a specific type of Shadow Creature. And though The Overlord can create lesser Shadows this way, it could not make one like itself using the same technique.

But upon seeing this Sprite, the Overlord conceived an idea. It would use its blood to corrupt and shape the Sprite into something magnificent, something powerful, something that would guarantee the Shadow’s a future when it came. It would make this Spirit its heir.

She would be neither Shadow nor Spirit but something greater than either. Possessing the strengths of both and the weaknesses of neither. She would become a cunning creature worthy of leading the Shadows against the Great Wolves, Spirits, and their infernal creations.

Isabelle began to stir in the Overlord's arms. Thinking quickly, the Overlord brought its free hand up to its mouth and bit down on the wrist until it tasted its blood. It held its bleeding wrist over the Sprite's mouth just as she yawned.

She coughed and sputtered as the tar-like blue liquid entered her mouth and trickled down her throat. Her eyes opened briefly to reveal silver irises before she squeezed them closed and clutched her stomach.

“Let the blood of Shadows take hold of your soul, young Sprite,” the Overlord told Isabelle through the blood within her body as it placed her on the ground. “For it will make you stronger.”

She wiggled and writhed as the blood spread through her body. This brought fits of convulsion. She let loose a banshee-like scream and arched her spine. The blood was now firmly cemented into her being, tainting her soul and removing any semblance of her past.

“Do not be afraid,” the Overlord comforted calmly, utterly unfazed by the Sprite's pained spasms. “It will be over soon….”

The Overlord smiled as it felt the Spirit's soul and mind engulfed entirely by the blue blood. It was no longer a Spirit. It was a chimera of both Shadow and Spirit.

With the Spirit’s soul and mind converted, the body could now be changed. The child let loose another scream of suffering, accompanied by cracking bones and stretched muscles. Her arms grew longer and thicker from the shoulder down, with small, bony stubs protruding along the forearms. Her hands and fingers morphed into relatively small claws, although still big for her size. The skin covering her forelimbs darkened until it matched the Overlord's oil-black hide. The rest of her skin turned even paler than it already was, to the point of almost being paper white. Her open mouth revealed her incisors as they changed into sharp fangs. The scream contorted into a wailing whimper, like what a beast makes when injured and scared.

Then the true distinction began to take shape. Over the right side of her face, a bony mask began to form. It took shape around her right eye and the majority of her cheek, and several empty tooth sockets along the top right side of her mouth were the last to manifest before the mask ceased expanding. Then, red lines danced around the plate until they displayed a blooming rose around the eye.

With the final phase of the transformation complete, the not-Sprite tensed its body one last time, then slumped to the ground and went very still. At first, it seemed as if she was dead. Perhaps the shock had been too much for her small frame to bear. But then her chest slowly rose up and down as she breathed air through her nose. It had worked.

“Arise, Sprite of Shadows,” The Overlord commanded telepathically. “Arise and view the world anew.”

The child carefully stood up, clearly exhausted from the intense transformation. Her legs shook, and her arms hung limp. She looked disoriented but otherwise fine. She then turned her head upwards to lock her eyes with the Overlord's own.

The Overlord had never seen such beauty in all its life. Where there had once been the eyes of a Spirit, there was now something different. The whites had turned tar black, and the pupil had changed from a round, black dot into a blood-red slit. The only part that remained the same was the iris, its silver color refused to change along with the rest of her body, but the Overlord did not care. It had its heir.

She looked at it, her new eyes wide with awe and wonder. Then she smiled, revealing her new fangs. In an act of affection the Overlord had not perceived, the not-Sprite latched herself onto its leg and squeezed tightly. A content purr escaped her throat as she nuzzled the Overlord's leg.

At first, the Overlord was surprised. The non-Sprite retained so much of its old habits. It grew concerned. Would it make the heir soft and merciful towards its enemies? It could not risk an enemy of both Shadow and Spirit. It raised its hand high to strike the child. To kill her now would ensure she'd never grow too challeng-

“Daddy…”

The Overlord froze when the words entered its mind. Did the child just… communicate with it? It was the word. Daddy…

It had heard young Sprites say it countless times to their male progenitors along with dad, papa, and father. Terms of affection are reserved only for them. The Sprite children were extremely loyal and obedient to these males, always following the demands and tasks given by the older males even if they disliked them. And the few who didn't obey were punished and forced to do what was demanded anyway.

Did the child believe The Overlord was her 'daddy'?

This was completely unexpected. The Overlord had thought she would become only slightly smarter than the rest of the Shadows. Vicious and relentless, but still capable of learning and reasoning like itself. Instead, she was squeezing its leg with all her exhausted body's strength, purring like a feline and communicating through thoughts.

She suddenly looked up at it, her beautiful eyes transfixing the Overlord. There was so much affection in them, so much love and loyalty. And there was also a desire to please… to prove her worthiness to it. To show it that she would do it proudly and become the heir it required.

The Overlord slowly brought its raised hand down and rested its armored palm on her head. It petted the child's head awkwardly, uncomfortable and unused to the action. It had only seen this action performed by Spirits and Great Wolves. The child didn't notice this and pushed her head into its hand, enjoying the affection.

Perhaps…perhaps this was better.

“Yes, little one. I am your father… your daddy,” The Overlord told the child as it pulled her off its leg and rested her on its hip. “And you are my heir. Inheritor of all I have created.”

She looked at it with wide eyes, eyes filled with wonder and amazement. It doubted she understood all of what it said, but the meaning seemed very clear to her. She nuzzled into its side.

“You will do great things, little one… Great things.” With those words, the Overlord took its heir further into the mainland, where it would begin her training as the next ruler of Shadows.

“Silver. That is your new name.”